


Onto the Next Stage

by Zerodyne



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerodyne/pseuds/Zerodyne
Summary: Roselia prepared Yukina a little surprise on her birthday.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Onto the Next Stage

One would usually celebrate their birthday in some sort of festivity, be it by themselves, with their close friends, or with a bunch of people at once.

But not Yukina. Because her birthday fell on the day she's going to have a live performance with Roselia. She didn't even realize it when she pinned the date, and none of her other band members seem to object. Only the night before the performance did she notice that it's going to be on her birthday. Regardless, that didn't matter to her in the slightest. Her band's performance is much more important than a measly celebration for herself. 

So here she was, at the backstage of CiRCLE Livehouse. She had already finished putting on her costume, waiting for the others to do so. She went over the set-list again and again, making sure that she got everything right. Of course, with Roselia, she expected nothing but perfection.

“Yukina? Hey!”

Yukina turned to spot Lisa, already in her stage outfit as well. She carried a small purse filled with her makeup apparel.

“Is everyone ready?” asked Yukina.

Lisa gave a quick nod. “The others are giving one last check— they'll be here soon!”

“And the audience?”

“They're here already! I took a peek and there's a lot of them.”

“I see. So the pressure is on, as always.”

“Yup! But we're going to do our best, no matter what! Right?”

“Indeed.”

A thin smile emerged on Yukina's lips, mirroring Lisa's. Just like always, they're going to show their best to everyone…

Though, Lisa's obliviousness struck her as odd. She would be all over Yukina's birthdays in the past, so her being awfully quiet about this was strange. Perhaps, she is planning something…? A surprise, like what people would usually plan? That's probably the case— after the live performance, she and the others would throw a surprise party. Maybe in the family restaurant they usually spend their time in? Either way, the thought of it made her a little happy.

They heard the light rattling of the door, followed with footsteps from their three bandmates. Yukina noticed that they look a little… off.

“Minato-san, could you please follow me to the stage?” asked Sayo, not wasting her time for preambles. “There's something that requires your attention.”

Yukina's expression soured at this request. What could possibly be wrong this time?

“What, exactly?” she asked back.

“You'll find out when we get there,” Sayo replied impatiently, before striding off to the stage.

Though dissatisfied with the answer she received, Yukina took her stride and followed her. She passed by Ako and Rinko… and again, she felt something off about the two of them. Maybe it's just her…?

The pair soon arrived at the dim backstage, heading towards the stage platform. Yukina noticed Sayo was slowing down her steps, letting her be on the front.

“...why are you lagging behind?” she asked, starting to feel antsy over all of these abnormalities.

There was a slight delay before Sayo gave her reply.

“No reason. Come on, Minato-san, onto the stage.”

Being rushed like that made Yukina unable to respond, or even take note of Sayo's nerve-wracked expression. She headed onto the stage…

...and it was just as dark as the backstage. Not a single light illuminated the spot, even though Yukina had already requested the lighting set-list to the studio's manager. 

Wait— even if that's not the case, having the stage this dark  _ this _ close to a performance was strange. Yukina could make out the outlines of their instruments and the sound equipment… but nothing else.

“Is it the lights…?” Yukina muttered, stepping onto the center of the stage for a closer look. But even when she's that close, she could barely see anything within this darkness.

Then, she realized something.

“Sayo?”

Yukina turned around, expecting to see or hear back from her bandmate… but there was no one around. She was certain that Sayo had followed her through… so where is she?

Suddenly, two ceiling lights turned on, aiming their lights to Yukina, making her shine amidst the dark stage. She heard rustling from the audience stands, but couldn't make out what caused them. Then… 

“Today, we celebrate a very important day for a very important person to us all.”

A voice rang from the speakers, which Yukina recognized immediately.

“Lisa? Where…?”

“Her dream— which became our dream —sparked the birth of Roselia,” Lisa continued. “Without her, we wouldn't be here today, and we wouldn't have the experiences that turned our lives for the better.”

“She is the core of Roselia— the one that ties us all together,” rang Sayo's voice. “Our sound, our pride… it all stems back to her.”

“Also, she is the coolest vocalist ever!” Ako chimed in. “Like… without her, Roselia just wouldn't sound the same!”

“And it wouldn't  _ be  _ the same…” Rinko added. “She helped each of us overcome the hurdles we face… while also overcoming her own hurdles…”

“There might be a few rough patches along the way… but she has come really far since we first got together!” Lisa spoke again. “And for that… Minato Yukina, we say to you…”

“ **HAPPY BIRTHDAY!** ”

All the lights turned on, revealing a cheering crowd in the stands before Yukina. Some faces she recognized— a mixture of fans, friends, and the other bands. All of them, cheering and chanting some variation of 'happy birthday' to her.

The surprises don't end there. She turned around and saw her bandmates carrying over a large birthday cake. It was decorated with blue roses, notation signs, and of course, cute cat patterns.

“Happy birthday!” they all cheered. Yukina was stunned, trying hard to process what's going on.

“So? How'd you like the surprise, huh?” Lisa winked.

“You've all prepared this from the beginning…?” asked Yukina, still reeling from the shock.

“Uh-huh!” Ako nodded excitedly. “We thought it would be cool if we put a little twist for this year's surprise!”

“We even made the cake ourselves… that was a lot of fun…” said Rinko, a soft smile adorning her lips.

“It was quite messy, though…” Sayo commented.

“But the end result is what mattered!” said Lisa, before turning to the crowd. “Who wants to see her take a slice?”

The crowd cheered in agreement. Lisa brandished a small plastic knife and a plate, handing them over to Yukina.

Still processing the situation— yes, she's  _ that  _ slow —Yukina grabbed the knife and took a slice. Rinko handed her a fork for her to taste the cake, which she did in front of the audience and her bandmates.

It was… great. She curled a smile at the four, who glanced at each other with utter satisfaction.

Yukina then made her way onto her microphone, which made the audience fell silent.

“Frankly… I didn't expect that,” she began to speak. “But I would like to thank every single one of you that was involved in this… without your meaningful support, I would never reach this point. The point where I can declare that I love to sing.”

Yukina briefly turned to her bandmates— her precious friends.

“I would like to thank everyone in Roselia for sticking with me, even at my lowest point,” she went on. “I could never ask for a better set of people to perform with. You're all valuable to me… and I'm glad we're able to walk this path together.”

There was another round of cheering and clapping from the crowd, as Yukina gave the other four a wordless signal. They all nodded at her with bright smiles, before relinquishing the cake to a backstage crew and got to their instruments.

“Now, while it is my birthday… that doesn't mean we're not going to perform,” said Yukina to the audience. “Therefore…”

The stage lights dimmed to blue, as the Roselia members got to their position. They are ready to go.

“...please listen to our sound— our pride.”

The sounds of her friends' instruments came and wrapped her in a tight embrace, Yukina couldn't feel any more at ease with herself. Doing the thing she loved— singing —along with the friends she cherished… she would never trade this away with anything.

Together, with them… she set her sights forward, onto the next stage.

**Author's Note:**

> The following note is going to be super rambly. You have been warned.
> 
> So. Happy birthday to the precious, daring and kind-hearted vocalist of Roselia, Minato Yukina! Before I even got into Bandori, I had known of her existence and really liked her character. I was determined to find out more about her, which got me into this fandom in the first place.
> 
> Yukina has always been such an endearing character to me— she started off as someone who prefers to walk a path alone, almost crazed by the goal she set for herself. It wasn't until Roselia came to her life that she started to change for the better, and seeing her grow from being so cold and dismissive to others to someone who's kind and caring for other people's success was nothing short of satisfying. Even though she's a fictional character, her growth really did make me proud of her.
> 
> I could list even more things as to why I like Yukina a lot— her affection for cats, her passion in music, her unyielding devotion to the craft... Yukina has inspired me to push through my limits and attain greater heights, and I appreciate her for that. So yeah! Yukina is an important character to me and seeing her grow makes me really happy!
> 
> I don't know how to end this, so I'll just say it again— happy birthday, Yukina! Let's set our sight towards an even greater stage this year too!


End file.
